In June this year, of 70 major Chinese cities surveyed, new house prices in first-tier cities rose by 0.1 percent month on month, 0.1 percentage point slower compared to the rise seen in May, while decreasing by 1.3 percent year on year, 0.4 percentage points slower compared to the year-on-year decrease in May this year, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In China’s second-tier cities, prices of second-hand houses in June saw a year-on-year decline of 5.4 percent, with the pace of the decline 0.3 percentage points slower compared to that recorded in May, while down 0.3 percent month on month. In third-tier cities, second-hand house prices in June saw a year-on-year decrease of 6.0 percent, with the pace of the decline 0.2 percentage points slower compared to that recorded in May, while down 0.4 percent month on month.
The real estate industry is a key industry for steel demand. New house prices in first-tier cities decreased by 1.3 percent year on year in June, signaling the ongoing weak demand for steel, especially for steel bars, while also indicating the slowdown of the declining pace compared to the year-on-year decline of 1.7 percent in May. In the first six months, China’s exports of steel bars totaled 10.01 million mt, up 10.8 percent year on year, 4.3 percentage points higher than the increase recorded in the first five months, showing that more steel bars were being directed from the domestic market to the export market.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in the January-June period this year total real estate investments in China amounted to RMB 3.8074 trillion ($0.56 trillion), down 18.0 percent year on year, 1.8 percentage points faster than the decline recorded in the January-May period, showing the ongoing weak performance of the real estate sector, which has negatively affected demand for steel.
